Origami Fortune Teller — develop math reasoning skills with origami
Let your child practice his skills with this simple, yet effective origami fortune teller, and have fun with it in the end
Did you know that origami is a great way to develop your math reasoning skills and that some colleges even use it in extra curriculum activities? Not only that but practicing origami activates your whole brain and develops a wide range of skills, from hand-eye coordination to logical reasoning and problem-solving.
So why not let your child start right now with this simple origami fortune teller and we promise, he will have a lot of fun doing it.
What is an origami fortune teller and how to use it?
An origami fortune teller is a popular origami shape that can be used in children’s games. Well, it’s not that popular anymore but every parent will probably still remember playing with this awesome toy. So why not revive good old game and introduce it to the new generation of kids?
But back to the fortune teller. In most origami fortune tellers, top four parts are labeled with colors and inside, we mark it usually with numbers. But any other shapes can serve as an alternative option. It is all about creativity. On the inside are eight flaps, and every flap contains a message and big fortune reveal.
The person who is predicting fortune is holding the fortune teller and follows instructions form person whose fortune is being told. These messages may contain some descriptive attribute, event, animal or ask a person to answer the questions. They can also be some activities that the player must perform (great way to distribute those house chores). As with the markings on lids, it’s all about creativity and imagination.
Manipulation of the origami fortune teller is done with index fingers and thumbs on both hands. The player chooses a color (or a number) and holder uses their fingers to switch between the two groups of colors and numbers inside the fortune teller. The holder switches the positions a number of times, which may be determined by the number of letters in the color selected, the number originally chosen, or the sum of both. You can repeat this process a couple of times. After that, the player chooses one of the flaps which is then revealed. These flaps often have colors or numbers on them. The holder then lifts the flap and reveals the fortune underneath.
Materials needed to make origami fortune teller:
- Paper (squared, but plain A4 will also do the trick)
- Pencil
- 4 Coloring pencils (any color)
Instructions to make origami fortune teller:
On how to make an origami fortune teller, see the video on the beginning of the article or see the diagram below.
What will you learn?
- Develop hand-eye coordination
- Attention and concentration
- Patience
- Math concepts, geometry, proportions, and fractions
- Confidence and resistance to frustration
- Logical reasoning and problem solving
Don’t forget to check out other easy origami activities and make your own boat, cute origami pig, and your origami dream house.
Originally published at www.stemlittleexplorers.com on January 18, 2019.
